Lambert in or out? Poll reset with majority 'in', 7th May

[PeterWithesShin]

Unless there is a buyer you can't always shift the players you want. Take Hutton for example, he couldn't have made it plainer he was available in the summer if he'd stuck a for sale sign on him and parked him on an estate like a clapped out car.

[Concrete John]

That's not really the point, the point is, the experience we so badly need should be there to an extent but for issues of either injury, form or attitude it's not showing and the entire season is resting on the shoulders of youngsters.

Take 5-6 of that list and replace them with players with similar experience who don't have problems and we'd be comfortably mid table.

The thing is we're seeing lots of reports that various young kids aren't good enough and should be sold when the reality is that, if the older players were performing we'd only be seeing cameos of the kids and they'd be good enough for that.  For the 3rd year in a row the senior players are letting us down and kids are taking far too much of the blame.

aye but its the 3rd year in a row bit where lambert is culpable. Anyone on here in the summer could have told him half of those players don't perform or can't anymore, so he probably should have shipped them out rather than giving them yet another chance to come good

It is very possible that he tried/wanted to, but that we couldn't shift them due to the wages.

[pauliewalnuts]

That's not really the point, the point is, the experience we so badly need should be there to an extent but for issues of either injury, form or attitude it's not showing and the entire season is resting on the shoulders of youngsters.

Take 5-6 of that list and replace them with players with similar experience who don't have problems and we'd be comfortably mid table.

The thing is we're seeing lots of reports that various young kids aren't good enough and should be sold when the reality is that, if the older players were performing we'd only be seeing cameos of the kids and they'd be good enough for that.  For the 3rd year in a row the senior players are letting us down and kids are taking far too much of the blame.

aye but its the 3rd year in a row bit where lambert is culpable. Anyone on here in the summer could have told him half of those players don't perform or can't anymore, so he probably should have shipped them out rather than giving them yet another chance to come good

It is very possible that he tried/wanted to, but that we couldn't shift them due to the wages.

True.

It's easy to overlook this.

It's not just a case of telling a player he's not wanted, then finding a buyer. If the player is on a good deal - and good deals were a feature of the MON years, it seems - then he's quite possibly going to do what NRC or Heskey did, and sit on his arse taking the wage till his contract expires.

It's like Hutton at Forest. Take out the wage factor and he'd probably like the chance to play for McLeish there. Add in the factor that he'll have a couple of years left on his deal, probably around 40k a week, which isn't money he'll get at Forest, and he'll be a lot less keen to move on.

[paul_e]

Hutton, Warnock he clearly tried to sell.

Holman, KEA and Vlaar are new signings so irrelevent, leaving 6.

Given earns too much and has too long a contract to be easy to get rid of, we're stuck with him unless he decides he needs to play and is willing to take a pay cut for it.

Dunne was injured and still is, no way anyone would've bought him.

Ireland had amazingly just got the player of the season award, he'd have expected him to kick on not regress.

Nzogbia had only had a year, under a defensive manager, he deserved a chance to play in a forward thinking side.

Gabby and Bent  I can't imagine many wanted to sell either of them.

so it's not as simple as , "they've all been shit for ages so he should've replaced them".  The ones who deserved to go and could be gotten rid of have either gone or have "for sale, any reasonable offers" stickers on them.

[Mark H]

We must back him with bith support and money , there is no point in changing now I believe we are going in the right direction just hard to see it when these loses are hurting us so much.

[Greg N'Ash]

well yes so you buy a replacement and stick them in the stiffs. If he really went to the interview and told Lerner "yes i can make Ireland a world beater" then he deserves all he gets. Likewise if he just blindly agreed to Lerner's/faulkner ideas. We had one yes-man last year and that got us nowhere

[Dave Clark Five]

Out! Out! Out!

We should of been at least 4 down before we equalised yesterday for me he's absolutely clueless and got to go. Like 90% of these so called professional players we have. I wouldn't even call them pub players their much worse than that!

Clark is one of the worst Defender in the Prem by a mile. It'a a disgrace that he anywhere near the First Team.

We should have been 4-0 down. You are right about that.
Incidentally, who would you have picked from the available players and where would you have played them?

Look i really want to see Villa doing well like all of us but when one your best mates is a Tesco Bag supporter it really starts to piss you off after a bit. We didn't tell the club to sell all the best players did we. They wanted the money now we have to endure the misery because it's definitely not fun anymore. These players aren't good enough to wear the Claret and Blue, when it comes down to it they aren't very good footballers either. If we were shit at our jobs how long would it be before we get shown the door.

There's nothing else we can do but moan because going down to VP doesn't do much these days four home wins in the whole of 2012 is disgusting. One of them was a goalkeeping error, so three decent wins in a year how anyone finds this acceptable is beyond me we are ASTON VILLA.

Very frustrating it is. You can get some comfort slowly watching the Tesco Bags slip down the league. For anyone who wasn't sure about them being c***s, there can be no doubt in their minds now.

I don't think anybody finds the current situation acceptable; some are just being a bit more tolerant and hopeful that the right thing will be done in January. If it isn't then expect fireworks. Those that are experienced enough to know better but are performing badly deserve some stick. Even the younger players will only get so much more time before they come in for it. Regarding performing badly and getting the sack, footballers and football managers are in a different world. They aren't in a job but an investment. Managers can look after their investment by getting sacked. Players can get injured and swan around in their fancy cars all day on £50k a week or whatever.
You could start feeling sorry for them but they would stick two fingers up to you as they breezed by in their top of the range car.
I have times when I think that I hate the whole thing and why should they have my money but just keep going and enjoying the day out. It is a disease and one that has cost me a lot of money. If we won the league every year through having an owner throwing multi millions at it, then the ground would be full of twats, it would get boring and I would probably stop going.

Whether any of my ramble has any relevance to your post, I have no idea. I just started and now I have finished.

[not3bad]

To be fair coming in and changing our complete defence was pretty radical and harping on about how he should have gone even further in the space of half a season is a bit silly.

[Chipsticks]

Out! Out! Out!

We should of been at least 4 down before we equalised yesterday for me he's absolutely clueless and got to go. Like 90% of these so called professional players we have. I wouldn't even call them pub players their much worse than that!

Clark is one of the worst Defender in the Prem by a mile. It'a a disgrace that he anywhere near the First Team.

We should have been 4-0 down. You are right about that.
Incidentally, who would you have picked from the available players and where would you have played them?

Look i really want to see Villa doing well like all of us but when one your best mates is a Tesco Bag supporter it really starts to piss you off after a bit. We didn't tell the club to sell all the best players did we. They wanted the money now we have to endure the misery because it's definitely not fun anymore. These players aren't good enough to wear the Claret and Blue, when it comes down to it they aren't very good footballers either. If we were shit at our jobs how long would it be before we get shown the door.

There's nothing else we can do but moan because going down to VP doesn't do much these days four home wins in the whole of 2012 is disgusting. One of them was a goalkeeping error, so three decent wins in a year how anyone finds this acceptable is beyond me we are ASTON VILLA.

So how exactly is any of that Lambert's fault? And how would sacking him fix it?

[pauliewalnuts]

Out! Out! Out!

We should of been at least 4 down before we equalised yesterday for me he's absolutely clueless and got to go. Like 90% of these so called professional players we have. I wouldn't even call them pub players their much worse than that!

Clark is one of the worst Defender in the Prem by a mile. It'a a disgrace that he anywhere near the First Team.

We should have been 4-0 down. You are right about that.
Incidentally, who would you have picked from the available players and where would you have played them?

Look i really want to see Villa doing well like all of us but when one your best mates is a Tesco Bag supporter it really starts to piss you off after a bit. We didn't tell the club to sell all the best players did we. They wanted the money now we have to endure the misery because it's definitely not fun anymore. These players aren't good enough to wear the Claret and Blue, when it comes down to it they aren't very good footballers either. If we were shit at our jobs how long would it be before we get shown the door.

There's nothing else we can do but moan because going down to VP doesn't do much these days four home wins in the whole of 2012 is disgusting. One of them was a goalkeeping error, so three decent wins in a year how anyone finds this acceptable is beyond me we are ASTON VILLA.

So how exactly is any of that Lambert's fault? And how would sacking him fix it?

Also intrigued to hear that games we win through a goalkeeper error aren't proper wins.

[eastie]

Lamberts transfer dealings have in the main been very encouraging which gives hope he may have a couple more gems up his sleeve, of the players he inherited few have really performed well for him and he now should have an idea who needs to go in the summer if not before.

I have been worried by some of his selections recently but we all disagree with certain team selections- tactically I feel he should have shut up shop at Chelsea when 3-0 down rather than continue to play so open and leave us exposed - he was my choice from day one and I think he must be persevered with , although  that's not to say he hasn't made mistakes, and I can see why some are questioning him.

Everything is not a case of black or white regarding lambert or Lerner , both have done good things and both have made mistakes to varying degrees.

[paul_e]

At times Lambert has shown his inexperience.

Picking a 532 against chelsea was always a bad idea given they play a 4231 and push the widemen very high up the pitch.  If we'd had more possession it'd have been ok but that wasn't really ever likely to be the case, we should've lined up with a similar formation to them.

Failing to arrange a marker/strategy for Bale once we went to a back 4 against spurs was just as damaging.

On top of those there have been some strange substitutions as well.

However, all that said the main issue has been senior players not doing what they're there for and providing us with a solid, consistent platform to build on.

He needs time to get those players out of the squad and replace them with players with the right kind of experience, letting him go would just lead to another manager thinking maybe Ireland/Nzogbia/etc can get back to being the player they're capable of being and we'll have another 6 months of them strolling around like they don't give a shit.  Back Lambert now and in the summer, if we're still shit this time next year then reopen this thread and a lot more people will vote out but for now we need to have a bit of stability whilst the last few bad apples are cleared out.

[Gareth]

I still think Lambert is the way forward - my only real concern dates back to when we got him & a few Norwich fans pointed out that the team was a bit jekyll & hyde, great one week and getting hammered the next - makes me wonder whether he needs additional coaching assistance, particularly in defensive organisation which seems a little awry, great determination to block etc but breached far too easily at times - from memory Karsa is not a hands on coach? which leaves it all to Culverhouse and Lambert.

Just a thought?

Hope we see new & proven faces before we go back into Prem action - games until the League Cup final weekend will shape our season, 1 point from Wigan & Swansea is disappointing - needs much, much better from Southampton, Baggies, Newcastle, Everton & West Ham

[Mister E]

At times Lambert has shown his inexperience.

Picking a 532 against chelsea was always a bad idea given they play a 4231 and push the widemen very high up the pitch.  If we'd had more possession it'd have been ok but that wasn't really ever likely to be the case, we should've lined up with a similar formation to them.

Failing to arrange a marker/strategy for Bale once we went to a back 4 against spurs was just as damaging.

On top of those there have been some strange substitutions as well.

However, all that said the main issue has been senior players not doing what they're there for and providing us with a solid, consistent platform to build on.

He needs time to get those players out of the squad and replace them with players with the right kind of experience, letting him go would just lead to another manager thinking maybe Ireland/Nzogbia/etc can get back to being the player they're capable of being and we'll have another 6 months of them strolling around like they don't give a shit.  Back Lambert now and in the summer, if we're still shit this time next year then reopen this thread and a lot more people will vote out but for now we need to have a bit of stability whilst the last few bad apples are cleared out.

You're right Paul and the highlighted sentence is the killer.

From what I've seen and heard from the man - and from what we've seen at Norwich - I trust Lambert to get it right.
I will be somewhat dumfounded if he hasn't brought some experience into MF (and possibly defence) by the end of this month but if he wants to secure one or two other hi-po youngsters as well, fine.

[Dave Clark Five]

Out! Out! Out!

We should of been at least 4 down before we equalised yesterday for me he's absolutely clueless and got to go. Like 90% of these so called professional players we have. I wouldn't even call them pub players their much worse than that!

Clark is one of the worst Defender in the Prem by a mile. It'a a disgrace that he anywhere near the First Team.

We should have been 4-0 down. You are right about that.
Incidentally, who would you have picked from the available players and where would you have played them?

Look i really want to see Villa doing well like all of us but when one your best mates is a Tesco Bag supporter it really starts to piss you off after a bit. We didn't tell the club to sell all the best players did we. They wanted the money now we have to endure the misery because it's definitely not fun anymore. These players aren't good enough to wear the Claret and Blue, when it comes down to it they aren't very good footballers either. If we were shit at our jobs how long would it be before we get shown the door.

There's nothing else we can do but moan because going down to VP doesn't do much these days four home wins in the whole of 2012 is disgusting. One of them was a goalkeeping error, so three decent wins in a year how anyone finds this acceptable is beyond me we are ASTON VILLA.

So how exactly is any of that Lambert's fault? And how would sacking him fix it?

Also intrigued to hear that games we win through a goalkeeper error aren't proper wins.

There is an element of panic in a lot of posts. By the end of this month it will all have calmed down or we will all be flapping.